Box-maker&#39;s hatchet or hammer



Jan. 12, 1932. w, PHELPs 1,840,525

BOXMAKERIS HATCHET OR HAMMER Filed Sept. 18, 1929 awe/14 504:

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dbfomu 6 Patented Jan. 12, 1932 UNITED STATES ALBERT W. PHELPS, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA' BOX-MAKERS HATCTIET OR HAMIVIER Application filed September 1 8, 1929. Serial No. 393,403.

This invention relates to an improvement to be applied to a driving device such as a hatchet or hammer, used by box-makers in framing boxes or crates or in nailing covers on to boxes. lVhen nailing such covers on boxes it frequently happens that a nail driven near the end or side wall of the box will become bent, or driven in such a way that its point projects in an inclined direction from the side or end wall of the box. If it happens that the head of the nail has become seated, the nail cannot readily be extracted with the usual extracting slot provided on a hatchet or hammer of this kind. It then becomes necessary for the box-maker to turn the hammer or hatchet around and drive against the point of the nail so as to drive it back. This causes loss of time.

The general object of this invention is to overcome this diiiiculty and to provide a driving device such as a hatchet or hammer with simple means for enabling such a crooked or bent nail to be readily driven back so that it can be extracted; also to provide such a construction as will enable the hatchet or hammer to be used for this purpose without necessitating turning it around in ones hand.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel parts and combination of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an eiiicient boX-makers hatchet or hammer.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification, while the broad scope of the invention is pointedout in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of ahatchet embodying my improvement.

Figure 2 is a side elevation showing a portion of the end of a box and illustrating a bent nail in the act of being driven back by means of my improved hatchet, a portion of the hatchet being broken away and shown in cross-section.

Referring more particularly to the parts and especially to Figure 2, 1 represents the head of a nail which is indicated as driven through a portion of a box cover 2 which is being nailed on to the end of a box 6. It sometimes happens that such a nail will become bent or crooked so that its point 3 will project in an inclined direction on the outer face of the box.

In applying my invention to a hatchet of the type illustrated, I provide one or both of its side faces 4 near its driving face la with a shoulder 5, said shoulder being formed preferably in an inclined direction see Figure 2) and so that it faces rearwardly from the driving face 4a, and projects outwardly away from the plane of the side face 4.

This shoulder 5, of course, need not extend all the way across the side face of the hatchet but I prefer to have it do so because in this way it will not require any care to bring the shoulder into alignment with the point of the nail that is to be driven back.

It is preferable also to provide means on the side face of the hatchet to guide the point 3 of the nail up against the shoulder 5. For this purpose I prefer to provide a plurality of grooves 7 extending substantially at right angles to the shoulder 5 and, if desired, the ends 8 of these slots remote from the shoulder 5 may be of reduced width. The lower or outer ends of the slots, as viewed in Figure 2, are preferably widened out. f the hatchet is applied to the side of a box as indicated in Figure 2 so that any one of these guide slots engages the point of the nail, the slot will guide the hammer or hatchet in its upward movement to enable a fair blow to be struck by the shoulder 5 against the point of the nail. In this way the nail can be driven back sufficiently to elevate its head 1 above the cover of the box. The head can then be engaged by means of the usual extracting notch 9 formed in one of the edges of the hatchet.

The handle 10 of the hatchet or hammer may be of the usual form.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described herein is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take, and I do not wish to be limited in the practice of the invention, nor in the claims, to the particular embodiment set forth.

What I claim is:

1. A box-makers nail-driving device having a driving head with a transverse shoulder adjacent the driving face of said head, facing rearwardly from the said driving face and projecting from the plane of the side face for engaging the projecting point of a driven nail, and guiding means on said side face extending toward the shoulder for guiding the device on the nail point to strike the shoulder against the same.

2. A boX-makers nail-driving device having a driving head with a substantially flat and unobstructed side face, said side face having a transverse shoulder adjacent the driving face of said head, said shoulder facing rearwardly from the said driving face and projecting from the plane of the side face for engaging the: projecting point of a driven nail, the side face of said head adjacent said shoulder having guide grooves ex tending toward the shoulder for guiding the device on the nail point to strike the shoulder against the same.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 12th day of September, 1929.

ALBERT W. PHELPS. 

